MARTINSVILLE, Va. — At the scene of great triumphs, in his native state, the bottom fell out of Denny Hamlin’s title hopes on Sunday.

Meanwhile, there was Hamlin’s old nemesis from 2010, Jimmie Johnson, merrily running away with the Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin’s Toyota slowed suddenly at about lap 370. Backup systems restored most but not all of the power to the No. 11 Toyota. By lap 380, he was far off the pace again. Then he managed to get power just as leader Clint Bowyer attempted to lap him.

“It picks up in the corners dies down the straightaways,” Hamlin told crew chief Darian Grubb.

On lap 391, Hamlin’s car came to a virtual halt on the front straight, effectively inducing a caution period. It, in fact, did come to a halt about 100 yards past the start-finish line. A wrecker pushed him around the track, two laps down. Johnson took the lead from Clint Bowyer on pit road. Hamlin had led 12 laps prior to the electrical system failure.

By the time he returned from the garage, Hamlin was 34 laps down and relegated to 33rd place. By race’s end, he was 49 points behind Johnson, who took the points lead from Brad Keselowski .

“It stinks it’s got to end this way,” Hamlin said. “All I can do is suck it up and go on from here.”

Close calls — Johnson wasn’t without his moments of concern. With just over 60 laps to go, Johnson narrowly avoided disaster twice. First his Chevy bounced off Casey Mears’ Ford, causing some bodywork damage. Then he happened upon a spat between Juan Montoya and Travis Kvapil . Montoya’s spin brought out the caution flag, but Johnson had the front and sides of his car flattened out a bit.

Miraculously, the damage was light and Johnson didn’t even relinquish the lead.

Survival mode — Rumors of Keselowski’s demise proved premature.

After qualifying 32nd, Keselowski played it smart, kept cool, worked his way methodically through the field and turned in a creditable sixth-place finish.

The inevitable finally occurs — Johnson’s victory marked the end of an 11-race period in which no Chevy driver won a race.

No matter. The victory clinched the Sprint Cup Series manufacturer championship for the GM brand.